How Vladimir Putin Spends His Billions
Because of the shadowy nature of Russian economics, some even believe that Vladimir Putin is the wealthiest man on the planet, with a net worth in excess of 200 billion dollars. But most headlines focus on his high-profile international disputes and subterfuge. How does he spend his billions?
A Hero In The Sky (And On The Ground)
Ann Sim lives a double life. A member of Singapore Airlines cabin crew, she is also a volunteer medic with the Singapore Civil Defence Force, which responds to all kinds of emergency situations. While her job offers her the opportunity to see the world, Sim’s volunteer work enables her to give back to her community.
The Spider’s Web: Britain’s Second Empire
Michael Oswald’s film The Spider’s Web reveals how at the demise of empire, City of London financial interests created a web of secrecy jurisdictions that captured wealth from across the globe and hid it in a web of offshore islands. Today, up to half of global offshore wealth is hidden in British jurisdictions.
They Were Promised Broadband And High-Tech Jobs. They’re Still Waiting.
Kentucky’s plan to bring broadband to remote parts of the state has sputtered and its future looks increasingly bleak. State leaders told rural residents it would create better business opportunities. But instead, they keep getting left behind.
Human Population Through Time
It took 200,000 years for our human population to reach 1 billion—and only 200 years to reach 7 billion. But growth has begun slowing, as women have fewer babies on average. When will our global population peak? And how can we minimize our impact on Earth’s resources, even as we approach 11 billion?
How The Resale Revolution Is Reshaping Fashion
We’re buying more clothes than ever, but it’s not all fast fashion. More than half of 25- to 34-year-olds buy secondhand or vintage clothes, and resale apps such as Depop, Stock X and Vestiaire Collective are tapping into the millennial and generation Z market.
The Citarum: The World’s Most Polluted River
The Citarum River in Indonesia is the world’s most polluted river. One of the main polluters is the fashion industry: 500 textile factories throw their wastewater directly into the river. The filmmakers teamed up with international scientists to investigate the causes and consequences of this pollution.
Mapping America’s Stark Wage Inequality
One of the most important economic stories of the past couple of decades is the rise of economic inequality in the United States and around the world. Since 1980, economists say, wage growth for the highest-paid workers has been roughly triple that for the lowest paid. In some cities, the disparity is wider.
Donald Trump’s Worst Deal
The President helped build a hotel in Azerbaijan that appears to be a corrupt operation engineered by oligarchs tied to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. The Trump Tower Baku never opened.
“Glacier Exit”, A Portrait Of Rapid Environmental Change
Filmmaker Raphael Rogers stood on the ice dunes of the glaciers of Alaska in the midst of a snowy winter. The silence and majesty of the mountains surrounding us, the bluest ice we had ever seen and the steady rush of ice turned to water.
These Skyscrapers Suck Pollution From The Air
A look inside Milan’s Bosco Verticale, a pair of residential high-rises designed by Stefano Boeri with greenery designed to suck pollution out of the air.
Zaha Hadid Architects’ Giant Starfish-Shaped Airport Opens In Beijing
Zaha Hadid Architects has completed Beijing Daxing International Airport, a five-pronged building that is one of the largest passenger terminals in the world. Designed by the late Zaha Hadid and current studio principal Patrik Schumacher, the 700,000-square-metre airport to serve Beijing has been designed to be as compact as possible.
How Oxford University Shaped Brexit — And Britain’s Next Prime Minister
You turn the pages of yellowing student newspapers from 30 years ago, and there they are, recognisably the same faces that dominate today’s British news. Boris Johnson running for Union president, Michael Gove winning debating contests, Jeremy Hunt holding together the faction-ridden Oxford University Conservative Association (OUCA).
Short Film: Ikhwène (Brotherhood) by Meryam Joobeur
One of the most acclaimed shorts of the year, and a frontrunner for Oscar. Mohamed is a shepherd in rural Tunisia with his wife and two young sons. Their world is shaken when their oldest son returns after a long journey with a mysterious woman he says is his wife.
At War With The Thruth
A confidential trove of government documents obtained by The Washington Post reveals that senior U.S. officials failed to tell the truth about the war in Afghanistan throughout the 18-year campaign, making rosy pronouncements they knew to be false and hiding unmistakable evidence the war had become unwinnable.
The Secret Rules Of The Internet
Many US-based companies continue to consign their moderators to the margins, shipping their platforms’ digital waste to “special economic zones” in the Global South. The murky history of moderation, and how it’s shaping the future of free speech.
Invasion: In An Era Of Reconciliation, Indigenous Land Is Being Taken At Gunpoint
Invasion is a film about the Unist’ot’en Camp, Gidimt’en checkpoint and the larger Wet’suwet’en Nation standing up to the Canadian government and corporations who continue colonial violence against Indigenous people.
Why Prices Differ Around the World
If you have ever traveled somewhere, especially to countries that are either a good deal richer or poorer than your own, you might have noticed that some places are certainly a lot more expensive than others. There seems to be a strong correlation between the average wealth of a country and the cost of goods and services.
“Coyote”, Award-Winning Animation Short Film
A coyote loses his wife and children from an attack of wolfs. Anguished from human emotions he‘s trying to process the experience. Besides grief and delusion, evil takes up more and more space. Directed by Lorenz Wunderle.
The ‘Lost Rambos’ Of Papua New Guinea: How Weapons And Hollywood Changed Tribal Disputes
Tribal fighting has long been present in the Papua New Guinea highlands, but the influx of modern automatic weaponry in the 1990s turned local disputes into lethal exchanges. Bootleg copies of the American film Rambo circulated in remote communities, becoming a crude tutorial on the use of such weaponry.
Repopulating A Japanese town
As the Japanese populace shrinks and ages, and young people leave the suburbs and rural areas for cities, more and more communities are becoming ghost towns. The municipality of Okutama, on the outskirts of Tokyo, has come up with a novel solution: Give away houses to young families for free.